Distorting drums

[Labs]

....

[nbrecording]

2 X DI boxes and a Neve 1073 DPA/DPD.

[cdog]

I like the sound of a blown out compressor for this, rather than a distortion box.

Distressor
Smart C2 set to CRUSH set to LIMIT compressing 20db
1176 all buttons in
Chandler EMI $4000 limiter thingy


Never head the culture vulture, but I bet its really too cool for school as well.

[redroom]

Cheap option DBX 119 or 128 should do the trick nicely

[subatomic]

a REALLY cheap option is that new SSL plug in. It's free and it can do some interesting destruction to drum tracks.

[blackbox]

no brainer...

spectrasonics 610
shure leveloc/ or the clone thereof, the shur-loc (drewtronics)

la2a with both knobs dimed.
1176 all buttons in

my newest favorite, the SPL Charisma. Damn I friggin love this box!

[Jay Kahrs]

I always have lots of fun with stompboxes and guitar amps. Really cheap crappy compressors can be loads of fun too. Why use a $3000 box to try & get a wonky sound when the $30 box does that on it's own?

[everybody's x]

sansamp bass di

[slaves666]

play them back through a crappy speaker and re-record it.....works every time.

[r0ck1r0ck2]

2nd the DBX 128.....oh soo nasty cheap
dig your snare....tames some cymbal nastieness....
haven't tried the kick yet....
but i will

CheapOneOnEbay

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally Posted by subatomic

a REALLY cheap option is that new SSL plug in. It's free and it can do some interesting destruction to drum tracks.

Thanks for the heads up! I had no idea that existed...the 50:1 crazy TB limiter in plug-in form! Schweet!

So I'm going to try this anyway, but the SSL site says it's for Mac AU/VST only. Does that mean it won't work at all on PC VST?

I'll find for sure tomorrow!

[Joel Hamilton]

ADR "limiter express" is one of my secret weapons for this. Insane amounts of drive, coupled with an expander and a limiter.... Insane explosions.

Couple that with a 33609.... Oh, and if you can find one, a Mcmartin limiter. The beige one with the sideways VU thingy. I had mine modded by purple audio with custom time constants, with the attack and release moved to the face, as well.

That thing will DESTROY drums in the most amazingly soupy, slow motion pumping mayhem way. Super syrupy... like every hit is plowing through 1000 tons of jello to get to the listener....

[tubehead]

The MAXSON CA-1589 cranked and driving the input is OUTRAGEOUS!!! It's Mono though. Joel You found didn't you? I was playing with mine last night and it was disgustingly insane!

[Twisted Tones]

On the cheap and extreme end...

Tech 21 Comptortion. It's a guitar pedal but it simply blows up on all things percussion (so long as you're not looking for "subtle"). I like to run a funky mic (little aiwa, green bullet) into it when tracking drums.

Also, the Sherman Filterbank is always surprising and often amazing.

Those are more "effect" type sounds. I have heard the TG-1 and it IS amazing if a little bit of a one trick pony...but, oh, what a trick! Also, those silver Ampex tube mic mixers (the 4 channel guys) are super nasty cool.

DP

[matt thomas]

hot cake, as used for this purpose by Oasis (supposedly)

http://www.musictoyz.com/guitar/pedals/hotcake.php

narco

[studjo]

if you loose low end why not just distort and lose the low end and mix the undistorted drums back in for the low end?

for gear it's a no brainer: for me DISTRESSOR all the way - if you want to **** up any sound try the distressor first
a 1178 does some nice things to and the Smart on crush is very nice too but the distressor is the most versatile


Jo

[Joel Hamilton]

Originally Posted by studjo

if you loose low end why not just distort and lose the low end and mix the undistorted drums back in for the low end?

Jo

Totally. The uber smashed drums are usually on a send or bus or really just one pair of mics meant to be killed along side the full flavored drums unless I am going for something totally over the top....

[84K]

I like to distort drums mainly with compressors. The usual suspects are great (as already mentioned). Reamping and miking a guitar amp is always cool (on snare).

[Drumsound]

Don't rule out cheap toob mic pres. The ART ones is my rack mount distortion box.

The Mindprint T-Comp also has a tube drive function that's great for screwing with drums.

[Tetness]

I have the Culture Vulture and I love it for exactly this application. Get one on demo and check it out yourself. I just loaned mine to Gsharp who came over and listened to it at my place. He was very impressed, so much so, he talked me into lending it to him for the week. Culture Vulture is expensive, but worth it. I give it thumbsup thumbsup

[Mike Caffrey]

I use the 2 Chandlers in series for stereo and a 1073 all the way up into a distressor for the center/mono.

The Culture Vulture works, but I've only had mine long enough to use once on drums.

I also like the Fulltone OCD and of course the LevelLoc.

I've had good results with feeding a couple of channels in series with the channel line in all the way up when I haven't had anything else available.

It's distortion, i doens't have to sound good.

[thethrillfactor]

Yamaha SPX990 telephone preset.

TC Fireworx.

[Mario-C.]

I use a TC G-Force, I rarely use it on guitars but it rocks on drums

[dim light]

Fatso and stomp boxes + tape!

[3rd world order]

Originally Posted by Labs

Whats some good units to smash up drums with?

UREI/JBL 7110
severely clipped input on neve module
Electro Harmonix Graphic Fuzz
ZVex Machine
K2000 waveshapers
waveshaper in Metasynth
Digidesign Turbosynth
Eventide 4000 disortion modules - place non-linearities in the distortion curves... i also like the control for slew rate
Guitar amp and room mic + heavy compression
shitty digital compressor in zoom 9050 set to long attack
amp simulators

[airmate]

fatso & dyna-mite...

[kats]

TG1 - bypass compression on channel 1 by turning on the THD switch, dime the input to get a nasty distortion, send that signal into channel 2 set to limit and destroy sound to taste. If this isn't $ukked up enough for you - God help us all

[Joel Hamilton]

Originally Posted by Labs

Kewl..Maybe its just the character of the distortion from the DIY ssl Im not digging..Ill try something else and mix on the send..

Just noticed your signature joel..Which sparklehorse album did you work on ? I love their stuff.

Gustav

I worked on "its a wonderful life."

There are some fun killed drums that I printed through a pair of distressors, and a sherman filterbank.....

[Wiggy Neve Slut]

The most expenisve dirt boxes ever... 3 x 1073 in series... reprinted back ITB! Cascading gain stages is a a beautiful thing with these!

Wiggy

[mtstudios@charter]

Since the 1176 has already been mentioned, maybe the rackable Sans Amp.

www.bluethumbproductions.com